Minus one thing. Egyptian army ,thuggish and brutal as it is, has not yet abducted and sold its citizens to CIA and USA for money. Many of them were innocent and yet ended up in Gitmo Bay for years. Some of them were released and sent back to Pakistan. There was not even a single word of apology or monetary compensation. Compare with this the story of Maher Arrar of Canada. Also remember the fate of Mulla Zaeef, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan. He was rounded up, beaten, stripped nude by our military officers and later handed over to CIA. He also spent several years in Gitmo Bay. He was released recently and wrote a book, which is worth reading.

Just like our and Egypt's armies, our people's attitudes are same too. In spite of his crimes Musharraf remained popular and military still enjoys preponderant public support. And As is noted, 57% of Egyptian public are with their army on their brutal massacre of their own civilians.

We and Egyptians have nothing in common other than our religion, and We are tainted by the same failings. So what ails us? A point to ponder. Is it our religion? Maybe we need to address our approach to the religion.

You are into your own again. Nuanced, informed, detailed, precise and eloquent, absolutely free from mediocre stereotyping. There are the likes of jejune Robert Spencer who are braying hoarsely to impute it to Islam per se. While you draw upon your encyclopaedic knowledge, you never seem to intimidate your readers or hectoring them. You seem to be talking to us as a genial friend. And one can sense the undertone of your sympathy for your readers, and the general public, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Pakistan Army still calls the shots in Pakistan, and it has a very high and sensitive ego. Nobody in the country has character power or spine to take on it. Look how Supreme Court's orders to produce missing persons have been flouted. This organization has kidnapped and executed scores of hundreds of citizens in the country especially in Baluchistan. It will never let its former chief be arrested. Besides, other stake holders such as Saudi Arabia, the United States will never let Musharraf be arrested. Or it will give the wrong signal to other US cronies ruling Muslim and Arab land. While you adduced example of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak's being tried, the real striking example would be how Turkey's generals have been arrested and tried in the court of law.

Its impossible to read a few initial lines of your essay and not continue till its end in one go. So much for your fluency and interesting style. I have a penchant for literary beauty. And you are always there to regale us with it in addition to educating us with knowledge, analysis and solid facts.

I can never be your student at the University of Michigan, but every morning I get chance to talk to you in person, thanks to Informed Comment blog.

While you dwelled on waning power of the US, I would like to know how will this play out on Palestine/Israel issue. US is the only power helping Israel sustain its occupation on Palestinian land. Its provides it with gargantuan aid in military and financial terms every year which is enabling Israel to sustain its Apartheid regime on Palestinian territories. The unquestioning aid has rendered Israel intransigent and averse to any equitable resolution of the conflict. So how would this abatement of US power bear on Israeli behavior. I am curious?

You knowledge is encyclopaedic and command on English extraordinary. Literary beauty is my weakness and I am very sensitive towards it. Sometimes your eloquence is devastating. I really loved this expression, " where the minds of the sheep are kept off their fleecing by substituting celebrity gossip, sex scandals, and half-disguised bigotry for genuine news."

Your today's post is not just a temporary commentary dealing with a fleeting occurrence.Its a classic in its own right, and must be remembered and read again and again in future.

>>From a Pakistani point of view, the US and Pakistan have been allies since the 1950s. They stood shoulder to shoulder in the 1980s to fight the Soviet Union’s brutal occupation of Afghanistan. After the September 11 attacks, Pakistan abandoned the Taliban and so made it easier for them to be overthrown, even though they had been to some degree a project of the Inter-Services Intelligence. In recent years, the Pakistani army has waged hard-fought campaigns in Bajaur, Swat, and South Waziristan against Taliban elements, losing hundreds of troops’ lives in the process.

Frankly, we were never allies of Washington. We were actually lackeys and toadies. We were never threatened by Soviet Union. Actually it wooed us right after independance when Joseph Stalin invited Liaquat Ali, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to visit Moscow. Yet, we chose to fawn over US by joining anti-Communist alliances. No self-respecting country gives cedes its sovereignty as Pakistan did by giving CIA access to operate anywhere in the country. Remember the U-2 incident, when a US plane took off from a Pakistani base and reached moscow and compounded the confrontation between two super powers.

At the same time, US tried to enlist India on its side against USSR. Now compare India's response with Pakistan's attitude. Nehru rejected Washington's efforts saying that India was not going to be a "camp-follower" of any great power, and chose a more respectful place instead. He spearheaded the formation of Non Aligned Movement and earned respect for his country.

Late Professor KK Aziz told me that present-day Pakistan is playing same role with US vis-a-vis India as Muslim League did with the British vis-a-vis Indian National Congress. Pakistan has displayed extreme hostility to India after Partition while at the same time being submissive to Washington. Likewise, Muslim League did Britain's bidding while locked in mortal perpetual confrontation with Congress during British raj.

It is instructive to see where is India and where is Pakistan. Look at the recent coverage by British newspapers. Economist's latest issue has likened India with a roaring tiger and has called its economic progress as a miracle; whereas the Independant has raised questions about Pakistan's viability and has asked if it is a failed state.

If we Pakistanis bewail this sorry state of affairs, we have ourselves to blame. We rejected progressive and semi-revolutionary leadership of Congress led by Nehru and Subhash Bose, and chose reactionary and feudal leadership of Muslim league. Jawaharlal Nehru tells us in his 'Discovery of India' that if India is partitioned, reactionary and feudal vested interests will become stronger . He also said that in independant India there will be no place for feudal lords. We gathered around Muslim League's reactionary leadership and divided India. In India there were land reforms, and in Pakistan, feudal obscurantists became stronger and our life was benighted forever, irredeemably.

Dr. Saleem Qureshi is Professor Emeritus of University of Alberta, Edmonton. He had taught at that university for 44 years. He says "partition of India was a disaster for Muslims, and Muslims are are so stupid that they cannot even realise it."

I have been a regular reader of your blog for last 6 years. I have learnt tremendously from you. I am originally from Lahore, Pakistan. Grew up and lived there. I would like to add to it.

Prof Cole, more than these tangible factors that have been referred to, other metaphysical factors are more more responsible, according to me. In Pakistan there is a culture of contempt for the commonality on the part of the authority. The state is in the state of dysfunction. No services are being delivered to the public that are necessary for a decent living. If your electric power is off, your telephone line is out of order, your sewage in the street is overflowing, or you require service of police because your vehicle has been stolen, you will need to visit the relevant government office. In each of these offices, wherever you go, you encounter arrogance and incompetency of the officials. Imagine you want to lodge a complaint to a Superintendent of Police (SP), because you have been a victim of high-handedness of some petty police office. In the first place it is so hard to see him in person. And if , somehow, you succeed in seeing him and he lets you in his office. You stand in his office, and he is sitting before you, arrogant, supercilious and disdainful. You are made to believe that there is no limit to your inferiority in front of him. You are treated disrespectfully and are given a short shrift. And afterwards there is no one to follow up on your application. This is a story of every office. It happens daily, in the life of every Pakistani. It breaks your self-respect and breaks your soul. It ages you and you cannot recover from it, if you have lived your 30 years in that country. Apart from pecuniary aspects, floods, or other mundane reasons, it is this destruction of your soul and ego that makes you mentally ill.

This is what I have felt, and this is what I have experienced.

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